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File Sytem Backup

I have 700000 files (220 GB)on a file server. It takes over 10 hours to back this data up to a tape drive. How can reduce this time. My tape drive and file servers are on the same network switch; its a GB link between the file server and tape drive and tape speed is the not the limiting factor... I see a lot of disk I/O during backup. I think defragmentation before backup may help. What else?

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Well there are other factors to determine here such as are you doing a full backup or incremental only/differential?, what model is the tape drive, is attaching a local tape drive to the heaviest working file server an option, also are there hubs or anything else between the file servers and the backup server, there are alot of things that come to mind. Here is a site that mentions some other methods that are quicker and might be worth looking into. It all depends on what your requirements are as far as company policy goes but here it is for your viewing pleasure.

There are a few other things to consider as well here. If you are backing up 220 GIG you should be using an Auto Loader to perform the backup so it has some advantages over other storage methods. The first is Security as if the tapes fall into the wrong hands they will be unreadable.

Now you also have to consider any Privacy Issues and the type of data you are backing up if it is Mission Critical to the business Tape will remain the best alternative the same applies to the issue of confidential records and what laws if any apply. If you have a legal obligation to keep this data private then you're stuck with Tape and the Auto Loader. The only thing you can do here is to run Defrag or a 3rd party program to do the same thing and schedule backups at off peek times.

If the data doesn't need to be kept secure and speed is of the essence a 400 + GIG HDD in a USB caddy will perform the operation faster but lacks any form of security as even if the files are encrypted you'll need to backup the encryption key along with the files just in case there is some Disaster occurring and you need quick access to the files to keep the company running.

Generally speaking a total backup is only performed once a month and incremental backup are performed at other times to save any new or changed files but again this all depends on the DR Plan in place and what is the companies policy.

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